Agree. One good way would be to introduce a further completely customizable user ribbon. The whole group of existing buttons and functions would can be placed into this ribbon as we like. The result would be a ribbon which perfectly fits the own needs and habits. Buttons and functions we don't(never?) need would simply not continue to complicate the view.. [from mentalwaves]

"@Lars - well, what I'd do is pretty much what you can do with any other program that offers ribbon customisation, like MS Word or Excel....
Seriously, I'd like to be able to arrange different tabbed groups, add different elements in each group. For examp" [from Alex]

"First I would like to say, that the MM team has done a good job with the enhanced 2012 ribbons. But here are some further thoughts:
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A NEW CUSTOMIZABLE RIBBON

1. We would be able to drag an every button we see from its original ribbon to our own user ribbon (MM would duplicate it to not disturb the order in other ribbons) We could also create and name button groups, similar to the groups MM currently offers: e.g. ""Fonts"", ""Tasks""...

2.To put it roughly, MM uses many levels of importance within a set: buttons and listed features. We should can define the position of functions within this hierarchy. e.g. things we never or seldom use, would migrate to the bottom into lists. Dragging would be the only activity we need to do that:
a) Do we drag a symbol over an other, then the dragged symbol would become an entry in the drop down list of the second object.
b) Do we drag a drop down list entry to the ribbon background, then the entry would become a button again.
In fact I suggest a similar kind of arrangements as we do with topics within our maps.

3. We would can collapse and expand whole sets to free the ribbons. If collapsed, only one single representative symbol would be there, while all the other functions would become entries in a drop down list.

4. MM could also offer the possibility to save such ribbons and allow the user to load the ribbon he needs within a specific context.
After some time of experiments an every user would identify its own most used things and the user ribbon would become better and better, fitting the users own needs and habits.
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SIMPLIFYING FUNCTIONS WOULD MAKE SOME BUTTONS OBSOLETE AND LIBERATE THE RIBBONS

FIRST SAMPLE CREATE RELATIONSHIPS: It is currently much too cumbersome to create relationships. You have to open the right ribbon, to find the right button and click on it, to click then on two objects. This is far too complicated!

Two ideas instead of that:
a) Hold down the space bar and directly drag a link from a topic to an other one.
b) While mouse over the first object, MM would display a place, e.g. a circle where we can begin to drag the link to a further object.
Both ideas would make us MUCH quicker!

SECOND SAMPLE LINKED MAPS: We could see them double clicking on the map tabs. This would be quicker than searching for the right tab, then for the right button.

"@Lars, I'd like to be able to add topic line, fill and shape - I know I can call these up with a right click on the topic but somethines it's a bit fiddly....
BUT, BUT, BUT -sorry to shout, but I think you are missing the fundamental point. It is NOT abo" [from Alex]

"I mentioned the extreme case of an additional completely customizable ribbon to enlarge the reflection space around possible modifications. An every user will need his own modifications, hence the ribbon concept will need to be flexible. Of course, it is possible to just partially apply the principles I mentioned, hence to only adjust things within already existing ribbons. So I'm supporting two things:

1. The possibility to add own new buttons, which are coupled with functions we need, no matter if macros or just a simple URL.
2. The possibility to design a new ribbon or redesign existing ribbons, to better fit the very individual user behavior.
" [from mentalwaves]

"I could also imagine a further kind of improvement. We currently can switch between ribbons and also have a small button bar, which is permanently displayed. This small button bar is not ergonomic, too small icons grouped on the very left hand side at a place we don't really like to click. On the other side, as a small bar placed over/under our ribbons, it complicates the interface without to be a great help.

The idea to have some permanently reachable buttons is good, just the current implementation isn't. So I suggest a new concept:

What if all ribbons would contain a common, static part in addition to their specific features? The common part would be fully customizable, and would represent the place we put only buttons we want to permanently see and use. We could put it on the right or left as we like, but it would be always part of all ribbons. Buttons we place into the common part would disappear from the specific ribbon part, so that we don't get duplicates and waste space.

Being integrated with the other ribbons, this would: look better, always be accessible, not visually disturb the interface being an exception as the current small button bar.
" [from mentalwaves]

- the Microsoft ribbon was designed for its Office products, where you tend to spend more time typing (words, numbers) than you spend futzing with various settings and dealing with formatting issues. Other UI approaches are better suited to products where you spend a lot of time manipulating objects on a canvas, like MindManager.

- One of the goals of any UI is to let the user focus on their work, not on the UI itself.

- Allowing a user to fully customize a UI isn't a substitute for providing a good UI in the first place.

- One of the biggest challenges in getting ribbon UIs right is figuring out which commands to put on which ribbons so you minimize the time users have to spend switching tabs.

My biggest complaint with the MM2012 ribbon (other than the fact that it uses a ribbon at all) is that although there are probably only 5-10 command I use very frequently, they are scattered across three different ribbons:

I've spent a similar amount of time (both in terms of frequency and duration) using MM9 and 2012 as I have using products like Visio and Illustrator, and I've used all three of them for similar purposes - to organize conceptual information visually.

Visio constantly frustrates me - the UI is a mess and I feel like it's always trying to prevent me from doing what I want to do. I only use it when I have to because I'm given a file someone else has created in Visio.

Illustrator has done some complete UI redesigns over the years to align it with other products, and while I found those very disruptive for a short period of time, after a little while I found that Illustrator becomes more and more seamless to the point where I'm just using it, not thinking about where to find commands.

After the MM 9 to MM2012 redesign, it seemed like the UI moved everything around on me. But even worse, the more time I spend using MM2012, the more frustrating the UI gets. I'm constantly switching tabs and trying to remember where the command I need is (often resorting to trial and error because whatever logic was used to group the commands doesn't fit my mental model of what those commands are for).

If it was up to me, I'd greatly prefer to see MM follow the lead of tools intended manipulating objects on a canvas instead of following the lead of tools used for entering text and numbers.

Adobe's UIs aren't perfect, but they get some critical things right:

- grouping commands together based on the frequency with which they are used with other commands (for me, navigating, arranging, and creating relationships/boundaries are common map creation commands)

Is it possible to hide some existing buttons? "Check for updates" and "Register" should not be visible to end users in organizations. I can't find the option to disable this buttons. Can anyone help me, please?

I think these features can be suppressed by using the Admin installer and modifying registry keys. There is a Large Scale Deployment document (for MM9) on the downloads page that lists registry keys and values to control these features.

Within the guide you will find registry options for removing the ability to update (AllowUpdateCheck within HKEY_CURRENT_USER) and removing the visibility of the license key (ShowLicense within HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE). I do not believe we have an option for disabling the Register button at this time. I would suggest posting this as a an "Idea" to the community for Product Manager review.